


Family Obligation and Dynastic Plans

by caramelsilver



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Gen, Marriage Proposal, Marriage of Convenience, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-07 00:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8775046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caramelsilver/pseuds/caramelsilver
Summary: “Six months,” he says.
“Yes,” Odette answers. She knows where this is going.





	

They are sitting at his family’s restaurant, at the table in the middle, where you are seated to be seen. They smile, because someone is always watching, and this, above all else is a show.

 

They finish the main course, and he sighs. “Six months,” he says.

 

“Yes,” Odette answers. She knows where this is going. 

 

He pulls out the box. Odette knows exactly what’s inside it since she picked it out herself. Logan twirls the ringbox between his index finger and thumb, around and around and around. She watches him, watching how he avoids looking at her, she knows he is steeling himself. Trying to let go and move forward. They both know this is their duty. The prenup is already written. All that’s missing is a ring and an announcement. 

 

Logan takes a deep breath, one that can be mistaken for a deep sigh, but Odette knows better. No more sighing for either of them. 

 

“So… This is it,” he says, voice low and eyes sad. “Last chance to run.” He looks her plain in the eyes, and she sees his vain hope that she will release them both. 

 

Odette shakes her head. She is as trapped as he is. Trapped in family obligation and dynastic plans. There is no escaping this. 

 

With a tiny thud, he sets the box down on the table, and then, with no words uttered, he slides the box over to her. 

 

She has always known what their relationship was, one of convenience and no choice, but the fact that he can’t even say the words speaks volumes of how reluctant he really is. She taps her nails on the tabletop, once, twice, thinking this over one last time. He doesn’t love her. Odette knows this. She doesn’t love him yet either. But in her case there  _ is  _ a yet. She knows that she could love him given time. He isn’t horrible. He is in fact very smart, funny and annoyingly handsome. There’s nothing wrong with him except for the fact that he doesn’t love her, he loves someone else. 

 

The choice though, is imaginary, there is no way she can refuse him. Her father has chosen him, his father has chosen her, and she can’t say no. If her father says that she’ll marry Logan, she will. So Odette, not breaking the silence, and not meeting his eyes, picks up the velvet box and opens it to reveal the ring she picked out for herself a month ago. The thought had been that if she was to bind herself to him, she would make sure that the diamond ring was one that she loved. 

 

She looks at the ring, nestled in the box and in this light it looks different. Odette looks up from the ring and looks at him, his poor face pulled tight, jaw locked shut. She smiles, and as she does she knows the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. The ring is cold against her fingertips, but she picks it up, looks at it, and then she looks at him. They lock eyes, he nods, she nods, and then she slides the ring unto her own finger. 

 

Nothing is said, but they can both feel the weight of that ring. The shackles it represents. 

 

Odette had loved the ring in the shop, but looking at it now, on her perfectly manicured finger, she has a sneaky suspicion she’ll never love it again. “So, that was that,” she says, looking at him with a small, curt smile. In response he only nods. His hands is curled tight around his wine glass. The man looks like a big pile of nerves and pain, and she hopes that she doesn’t look the same, even though her feelings mirrors his. 

 

After a while, he drains his wine glass and says, “I’m sorry.” She knows he means it.

 

She lets his words hang in the air a little, before nodding. She snaps the lid of the engagement ring box shut, and says, “Me too.”

 

FIN. 


End file.
